‘Community health workers deserve better this year’
Frontline health workers are expected to be honoured during the World Health Organisation’s International Year of the Healthcare Worker in 2021 in recognition to their selflessness in fending off Covid-19 pandemic However, the community health workers must be better-supported in their vital role to further beat back the global Covid-19...
African Free Trade Area now the largest free trade zone in the world ‘by participation’
The start of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) agreement on January 1 has created the largest free trade zone in the world by country following the ratification of the agreement by 34 countries. After years of haggling, suspicion and uncertainty the realisation ACFTA has been hailed...
Africa braces for a digital storm as industries reset their operations
The coronavirus pandemic is accelerating the move to digital, as large proportions of the population work, learn and entertain themselves remotely, while others have trialled services such as remote healthcare for the first time. These were amongst the findings of a recent Amdocs survey of 1,000 consumers in the United...
Mauritius and Morocco are new members of ADB Bloomberg bond index
Mauritius and Morocco have joined the African Development Bank’s Bloomberg African Bond Indices, further expanding the bank’s portfolio on the continent. The addition of Mauritius and Morocco to the fold marked a steady progress in ADB’s efforts in deepening the continent’s local currency bond market. The African Development Bank administers...
Coronavirus vaccine: Africa has a mountain to climb
The announcement by the African Union on Wednesday that it plans to buy approximately 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for the continent comes as a big relief for a part of the world that has been hit harder by the economic setbacks unleashed by the pandemic than the virus...
Murder of French soldiers in Mali reinforces perception of strong Al Qaeda presence
Al-Qaeda’s branch in North Africa has claimed responsibility for killing two French soldiers who died when their armoured vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in eastern Mali. The soldiers were on a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering mission in the eastern region of Menaka when the blast occurred. The attack...
Land pressure, instability in eastern DRC pose a threat to Virunga national park
Six rangers working at Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were killed in an ambush by a local militia group on Sunday, according to the park’s management and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation or ICCN by its French acronym. The attack is the deadliest since...
Kuwait’s Al-Sumait Prize up for grabs by outstanding Africans in health sector
Al-Sumait Prize has called for nominations for this year’s award for outstanding service in the health sector in Africa. The prize is open to individuals and organisations that have pioneered in the delivery of high-impact solutions to health in Africa. Special focus is on the 2021 cycle on the utilisation...
$6.5 billion lined up for Great Green Wall initiative in the Sahel region
Barely hours after 100 actors from Africa and Europe signed a charter in support of pastoralism and livestock development in the Sahel, the African Development Bank unveiled plans to raise $6.5 billion to fund the region’s Great Green Wall Initiative. The funds will mitigate losses wrought by the coronavirus in...
100 African, European actors sign a charter to promote pastoralism in the Sahel
More than 100 European and African actors have signed a charter committing to the development of the agro-pastoralism in Africa, particularly in the Sahel. The charter is inspired by the resilience of Africans against coronavirus compared with other races. Pastoralism is a key economic activity of the Sahel, a vast...
